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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

larch / Larix spp.

Larix spp. of the family Pinaceae (see the list below this table for all names)

2.5" x 2.5" flat cut, 2.5" x 2.5" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.
This softwood is often hard to distinguish from some types of fir and some types of pine and lumber yards sometimes combine larch/pine/fir as one "type" of wood for dimensioned lumber. Growth rings/inch can vary from as few as 3 or 4 to upwards of 60. Resin canals are infrequent, random, and fairly small. Earlywood/latewood ratio tends to strongly favor the earlywood and earlywood/latewood transition tends to be fairly abrupt from very dark latewood to very light earlywood. Sapwood is yellowish white, narrow, and clearly (and abruptly) delineated from the darker heartwood. Often exhibits strong cathedral grain in flat cut pieces. Eastern larch and Western larch are often sold separately.

"larch" includes at least the following species. This list is not comprehensive, but it gives you an idea of the range of species and common names and the overlap. Larch is also commonly called tamarack in the USA (more often with Eastern larch than Western larch).
my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions


Western larch (Larix occidentalis) sample plank and end grain


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of rift cut Western larch / Larix occidentalis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of rift cut Western larch / Larix occidentalis. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A


the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut tamarack / Larix laricina --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This species is also known as Eastern Canadian larch


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut tamarack / Larix laricina --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of quartersawn Eastern larch / Larix laricina. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A


the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.


both sides of a sample plank of Japanese larch / Larix kaempferi --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut Japanese larch / Larix leptolepis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Larix leptolepis is a synonym of Larix kaempferi


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut subalpine larch / Larix lyallii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut subalpine larch / Larix lyallii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of flat cut Russian larch / Larix sibirica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a plank of flat cut European larch / Larix decidua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was contributed to the stie by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I cut a formal sample sized piece from this and it is shown directly below this set of pics.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above. Note the resin bleed on the end grain. As you can see in the update directly below, this goes away when the pieces is cleanly cut or sanded (but if the piece is still unseasoned the bleed will probably recur). In the update you can clearly see the resin canals through which the bleeding occurred.


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of European larch / Larix decidua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was made from the larger plank directly above, which was contributed to the site by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. Some of the pink/orange tint is due to the particular 1200 grit sandpaper I use, which unfortunately sometimes deposits very fine orange grit into the wood. Notice that the end grain closeup of the larger plank, on which I used the very same brand/grit of sandpaper, does not have this tint. I use very high quality sandpaper (Klingspore) but I think their 1200 grit has quality control problems.


both sides of a plank of flat cut European larch / Larix decidua --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above


both sides of a quartersawn sample plank of a hybrid larch / Larix x marschlinsii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that Larix x marschlinsii is listed by The Plant List as an unresolved name.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of tamarack / Larix spp. --- This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION G.


the second face, before and after sanding it down a bit, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above


both sides of a set of planks that were all cut from the same larger wormy Western larch chunk. For both these and the pics below, HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain of the pieces directly above


end grain closeups of the 3 pieces directly above


closeups of two flat cut and one quartersawn surface from the pieces directly above. The quartersawn piece shows small ray flakes in the bottom portion where it is perfectly quartersawn.



a long veneer sheet and two closeups from it. The color on the distance pic is too yellow. The closeups show the color more accurately, although they have a little too much red.



a couple of long veneer sheets (first pic) and two closeups from them. The color is just a little too green and not quite enough red


This quartersawn veneer sheet was loaned to me by John Koehn whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain cutting board shot at a craft show; it's finished of course, and the color shown is accurate. I liked this so much I ordered a bigger one from the artisan and it's shown directly below.


end grain larch cutting board and closeup. Really big enlargements are present. These are mass produced in a small factory in Canada and have excellent quality.

The Wood Book pics


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
American larch (Larix americana, aka black larch, tamarack, and hackmatack) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Western larch (Larix occidentalis, aka Western tamarack and hackmatack) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views

web pics:


planks, flat cut, some with colors that are not believable


planks, rift cut


plank, rift cut, specifically identified as larix gmelina


planks, quartersawn


quartersawn plank listed as modrin / Larix decidua. Modrin is another common name for Central European larch.


Western larch / Larix occidentalis


plank listed as Western larch and with a color that is just silly


plank listed as tamarack which is another common name for larch


Siberian larch


quartersawn plank with the kind of highly dubious color that is the reason I started this web site in the first place


listed as larch but I have to believe that it is either REALLY badly mis-colored larch or accurately colored redwood.


sinker larch


quartersawn veneer


European larch planks, flat cut


European larch beam


quartersawn planks listed as larch / Larix decidua


European larch (Larix decidua) planks, quartersawn


European larch plank with wet and dry areas


European (Larchlarix decidua) end grain


European larch veneer, flat cut


European larch (Larix decidua) flat cut veneer and quartersawn veneer


European larch veneer, quartersawn


western larch veneer, quartersawn


Siberian larch flooring planks


larch paneling


flooring


pen turned from subalpine larch / Larix lyallii. Photograph contributed to the site by the pen turner, Bruce Selyem, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The pen is finished with shellwax.


a burned and scraped larch candle holder that I made


four views of a burned and scraped candle holder I made from larch